Question:
Can't weigh?
My husband and I are both trying to have the wls. We've been denied twice, working on our 3rd appeal. Our denial letters both came back with "no diet history". My husband, who has many co-morbidities incl. diabetes, can't weigh in at the dr's office. What is he supposed to do? He's been on numerous diets, but was never weighed in! — [Anonymous] (posted on November 4, 2001)
November 4, 2001
Did you turn in a diet history ? Just because you don't have receipts
doesn't mean you don't have a diet history or are they asking specifically
for physician/medically supervised diets ? I gave my insurance company a
diet history for the past 5 yrs with the diets attempts, approximate weight
lost and gained, any exercise attempts, gym, treadmill, aqua fitness, etc.
My insurance company (Great West PPO) required medical necessity, psych
eval and diet history. I only had one 'supervised' diet on there and that
was Weight Watchers and I was approved within 24 hours. You need to speak
to someone in medical management and see if they just want your diet
history or if they only use medically supervised diets. If you've tried
Meridia, Redux, Phen-Phen, etc, I believe those count as medically
supervised since they have to be prescribed by a doctor. I never tried any
of those because there wasn't enough info on the long term affects of them.
Good thing. If it's just diet history and you want a sample, send me an
email, but I'm leaving for Delano tomorrow morning (YAY) for my DS, so I'll
be out of town and out of touch for a while after tomorrow.
Good luck!
Anita
Surgery Date 11/08/01
Dr Keshishian
— Anita N.
November 5, 2001
Include EVERYTHING in your diet history, not just medically supervised
attemps. My "diet history" started in forth grade with diet
pills. From there, I listed: high protein diet, Weight Watchers,
hypnosis, phen/fen, Orlistat, numerous "lo cal" diets that I did
on my own. Next to each one, I listed the results. I did this in a three
"column" format with the approximate date/year, type of diet and
results. When you list all this, you'll find it's a long list. I was not
required to send any "proof". The listing was enough.
— Gina E.
November 5, 2001
You have more of a diet history than you think. List everything that you
can think of that you have tried. Surely your Dr. should be aware of at
least some of the attempts you have made on your own. Especially if you
can't weight at the office. I too was denied because of not enough
medically supervised weight loss attempts. However, on appeal I had
everything they needed. My Dr. kept records of things that she was not
necessarily (spelling?) following with me but she was aware of it. (ie,
Weight Watchers, Richard Simmons, Atkins, etc..) Take the advice of some
of the other posts and use some of their examples to get started. You may
have tried things that you have forgotten about and it may jar your memory.
Good luck to you and your husband!
— Betty M.
November 5, 2001
We listed all of our diets in our paper work before our initial
consultation with the surgeon. Cigna Hmo *sigh* wants proof. I had my
medifast records, but could not get any information on my weight watchers
diet. Hubby went to camp once as a child, but is diabetic and has been put
on several diabetic diets but all have failed. I am told Cigna wants
3-12wk supervised diets with monthly weigh ins. Hubby can't use the scales
at the dr's office...how will he ever weigh in? When will Cigna understand
that?!?!?
— [Anonymous]
November 5, 2001
You had mentioned that neither you nor your husband are able to be weighed
at the doctor's office. Just thought I'd mention that Siltec makes two
models of scales for in-home use that weigh up to 500 lbs. and one that
weighs up to 1000 lbs...just in case the problem might have been that the
scale in your physician's office doesn't go high enough for you both.
Meanwhile, others offered great suggestions here regarding a "diet
history."
— CaseyinLA
November 5, 2001
Hey, I have the same problem. When I started out, I weighed 608 pounds.
No doctors scale would hold me. We have a pecan place that buys and sells
pecans. They have a
scale that weighs up to 6000 pounds and told me I could weigh whenever I
needed to. It has been great. I go once a week. Sometimes the owner
comes and checks on me and wishes me well and makes comments like wow, you
are really doing great. It feels real nice for people to be so sweet.
Good luck on your journey.
— Tammy V.
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